Effect of Doping on the Interface States in Au Schottky Contact to p-In0.21Ga0.79As Grown on GaAs by Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy

Abstract

ABSTRACTEpitaxial p-In0.21Gao0.79As/Au Schottky barrier type diodes were fabricated by evaporation of Au on chemically etched surfaces of In0.21Ga0.79As:Zn layers grown on highly doped GaAs substrate by MOVPE. 1 MHz capacitance-voltage (C-V) and Capacitance-frequency (C-f) measurements were performed in the frequency range 1 KHz-1 MHz at room temperature in Au Schottky diodes made on four epitaxial In0.2 Ga0.79As:Zn samples with doping concentrations between 6×1014cm−3 and 4×1017 cm−3. Under forward bias, a large frequency dispersion in the junction capacitance was observed which was attributed to the interface states in thermal equilibrium with the semiconductor. The interface states capacitance extracted from the C-f data was analyzed in terms of Lehovec's theoretical model of interface state continuum with single time constant, and the characteristic parameters of the interface states (energy density (Nss), relaxation time (τ) and hole capture cross-section (σh)) were determined. In the samples with doping concentration in the range 1.5×1017-4.3×1017 cm−3, Nss was about an order of magnitude higher than in the sample having a doping concentration of 5.8×1014 cm−3. Over the interface states energy range 0.40-0.65 eV, Nss decreased exponentially with energy in the highly doped samples and σh increased with energy in all the samples.